Friday, March 30, 2007

New stuff #1Grandma arrived with her new puppy spin. Aw! Of course the best photo of him I took without a flash. waah! so here he is in black and white. which is a shame as he is really a red collie (that's a kind of brown really). Now don't let Dutch our dog see these because he is not allowed on the sofa...

New stuff #2I have had my hair choppedHad to endure a ticking off from the hairdresser about the state it was in!This isn't really a good photo of the front as it swings forward more. But the back is quite coolNew stuff #3its card dare day and it was my turn to choose a theme. Mwah, hah, hah, hah.This week you can do ANYTHING you like on a card BUT you can only use one colour.

I have enjoyed "helping" the team work out what is allowed and what is not. It is a shame to give up the power now!anyway here is my humble attempt.I used a March SA kit card and stamped sentiment. Aunt Sarah's Bloomer, Bazzill button, green staples from the 99p shop, Sophistiquins green sequins from Get Crafty and various bits of paper and vellum from my pile of green card and paper. The card swings out and I must add that the paper you can only see a little of has a green fleck on a very light green background and is NOT white (!)

New Stuff #4I won the draw on Tracie's blog for some chipboard shapes. I am in awe of her talent and I think I have this idea that if I have some of her chipboard I will be able to scrap like her.I know, but a girl can dream!

well we are heading into Holy Week - a very special week for me as I remember the last week in the life of Jesus, his death on the cross for me and his bringing of new life through his resurrection. It is also a very busy week work wise followed by a break/collapse at my parents the week after. so it is likely that this blog will be neglected for a little while.May you too know the hope of new life in JesusHappy Easter!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Life just gets too busy!Saturday I did some work at the Church contact centre. Some weeks you can just read or cross stitch while keeping a careful eye out for trouble. I am woman. I can multi task. The cross stitch did not come out of the bag at all. Phew! new families, demanding children, infringements of the rules - I was exhausted! Afternoon was spent doing prep for Sunday and taking Carys to a craft party at Imagine That. She has done a lovely canvas which just needs a photo now. What a great idea for a party! (although i am still smarting from being mistaken for one of the partygoers. Yup 11. Time for some makeup I think...)

Sunday was spent celebrating 200 years since the passing of the abolition of slavery act; celebrating the retirement of my lovely church secretary after 34 (!) years including a big celebration lunch and doing tea and songs of praise for a group that takes the housebound out for tea.

And in case you thought I wasn't really a Minister...Monday was spent taking Hywel to the orthodontist as some of his rubber bands had pinged off. Its all high tech stuff. Mr Davis was really fast - H was only in the chair about 3 minutes. But the whole journey there and back etc took 1 1/4 hours... that's my crafting time yer know.

Monday my friend Sue came round and we talked crafting and went to 2 craft shops. oh the restraint by yours truly. Sue had an Artbase card to spend. i did persuade her to buy me the piece of Bazzill i needed to finish a page as I couldn't wait another two weeks. It was hard to remember the page plan in the end but this is what I came up withthen we went to Imagine that and I booked some classes (not scrap spending) whilst Sue bought one or two more things and we bumped into Anita there who has got a potential new big order for cards. you go girl! So she stocked up on bazzill bling to help her do it. Bling is just heavenly and I will get some in my next SA kit! Managed not to upgrade my SA kit as to have it delivered on standing order is ok but to upgrade would count as shopping. (Hope the Lord is playing by the same rules or I'm in trouble)The above LO uses the Feb kit.The next LO uses the March kit.its an 8x8 double lo and yes my hand did ache after all that cutting. Letters and journaling tags done on the robo.

I love the way my kids still need to do the same things every time we go places even though the oldest is now 14!

I leave you with Carys' very first LO planned and executed with her own fair hand and only a bit of help from mum programming the robo (font of went to town is Elise. v. cool. Paper is Junkitz)

Friday, March 23, 2007

Tired... because I have spent all day at a meeting on Governance issues for trustees Actually a LOT more interesting than that sounds, but tiring.

Sad... becasue I have 2 funerals to attend next week. One for a dear friend who has died after a long illness. Our choir will never be quite the same again. One that I am taking, for a mother leaving 2 kids younger than mine, just about on their own.

So all that means my Friday blog post is late. And the photo is pants. But there you are. This weeks Daring Cardmaker Dare was set by the marvellous Keryn. She said

Your dare for this week is to create a card using any technique, any style, to welcome the birth of multiples. If you keep the card long enough there is bound to be someone you know having twins or more to send it to.

So here is my take on it...White square card; printed sentiment; printed out lettering then covered with lots of tiny primas and opal liquid pearls (my style du jour really)NB it takes quite a while to stick that many primas on. Just so you know.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Don't faint. But if you do I can send one of my Get Well cards. I thought I better post about them now in case someone was so impressed on the Daring Cardmakers Blog that they came racing here for details. (Pause for laughter) Actually I deliberately made them simple because sometimes simple is good.

Cream card with printed sentiment (I think the font is LD Delightful). Large QK plaster die and papers from an old SA kit.Pink stardream card, printed sentiment (font Digs My Hart), lots of different size prima flowers, some mounted on sticky pads with pearl Liquid Pearl centres.white card, printed sentiment (font tweed); hot water bottle (I thought you couldn't get any more but they are back at Mad About Cards - isn't it sweet); Making Memories ribbons wound round white card.

Had a busy weekend!Carys and I had a lovely time with my good friend Anna. It only took 11/4 hours to get to Barnes Bridge from our house - I'm sure it has never been so fast before. Barnes is such a lovely place to live (slightly out of my price range) (well so is everywhere as we live in tied accommodation!). We spent the evening chatting, eating and watching Freaky Friday on DVD. Carys told me she has seen most of it before but she still enjoyed it. I love body swap films. The best is probably Face/off but Carys can't watch that!

Saturday we had a leisurely start then went walking along the South Bank to Tate Modern. Sadly there were tickets for the big slides and they weren't giving any more out at that time, but Carys went down a little one. But is it art?She says yes.

There was a games area for you to choose things to do for free. We chose the surrealist stuff. I love this bag so much.which was full of all sorts of things to do. We didn't use most of them and the gallery was a bit too full. But it was fun though! Then we carried on strolling through little shops and galleries etc up to London Bridge station where we went to our seperate homes. We had all brought each other pressies so came home lade. I made Anna a little prayer book and as she has nearly finished the notebook from last year I had better make another one of those soon. I have realised that I forgot to leave the thank you card behind (the one I made for the dare) so will have to retrieve it - but it may now be fatally bent out of shape!

Saturday night Phil's friends from the Omlet forum came round. I tidied away all my craft stuff too (big shock). They had been to Helen's grandma who lives nearby. poor Mike had eaten something that disagreed and spent the couple of hours with us throwing up. Poor chap. Phil ahd just cleaned the loo too...

Mother's Day was fun with brekkie in bed - Heat magazine (usually banned from the house for being a gossip mag and Carys frowned at Phil for even buying it for me then. She disapproves of such things). I later had some home made cards. Emrys' had a balloon attached. Must photograph them as I usually get cards as surreal as anything in the Tate and this year was no exception.My favourite mothers day pressie was a song composed by Carys. "Mother dear I love you so" Awwwwww.

My Dad stayed with us overnight as he had a London meeting yesterday. I spent a lot of the day doing crafty things. Finally did a DCM midweek dare (see later for the reveal but don't get too excited) and two LO's. I'm getting in to this 12x12 now. May even change my SA kit again...The first was more snow picutres - this time of the boys. I do worry about scrapping Carys more than them - but then she poses more!{the layout will be back}

White card stock, BG Dasher; Craft Robo lettering, two circle punches and wooden snowflakes from an SA kit that I didn't think I would ever get to use!. I painted them white then embossed several times using winter wonderland embossing powder. You can't really see the sparkle but it is there. I did outline the letters but there is NO distress ink.

This one of Emrys flying through the air uses Crate Paper Cowboy paper and letter stickers; Craft Robo (heck I love my Jimbo and even if all he ever does is cut out letters that is great for me) ; distress ink (can't do without twice in one day); Christina Cole stand out stickers which are exactly the right colours. Don't you love it when that happens?

Then video night watching Van Helsing which is only a 12 - but still a bit scary which i how the kids like it. You can tell when they love a film cos they talk ALL THE WAY THROUGH.Later started Carys off on her first scrap page. She is so excited. Hopefully we can finish it tonight.

Friday, March 16, 2007

again!The magnolia tree next door is in full bloom. I love that tree. Not only does it lift my heart with its beauty but i don't have to pick up all the pesky blossoms. here is how it looked last year... and it is even more lovely today.

Carys and I are going to stay with my uni friend/her Godmother Anna overnight which we are all looking forward to. Carys was v. busy last night making mothers day cards for her grandmas. I suddenly realised that while admiring the ones I had made that usually we send them from the children too. So Carys had an hour to get them done which was disturbed in the middle by tea. But she worked like a Trojan and did it. Inspiration came from what was on my messy table left over from the Daring Cardmakers Dare this week and together we came up with ideas and she did all the work. sorry the pics are blurred but I was rushing! Managed to get them in the post just in time!

And so onto the dare this week. Set by queasy Kel - feel better soon hun! we had to list craft items and get other members of the family to draw 5 things out of the hat.I had

acrylic paint

glitter glue

die cuts

wood mounted stamp

charms

eeek! But with a little bit of cheating I came up with thischeating came with the white pen and the square punch.I found a rubber stamp of a wiggle square and painted it in various colours on some card which i punched out. I painted the card base using a wet wipe - that si why the card looks slightly warped - it is. I used the left over die cuts from Monday which I had not put away, did my standard outlining, added some glitter glue which also went over the lettering. The charm is the butterfly which "accidentally" lost its loopy bit. How sad.I can't wait to see what you all come up with.I'll be back with my new of the trip away v. soon. have a good weekend what ever you do and I leave you with a picture that shows up my shallowness. it is entitled "happy" becasue that is how it makes me feel!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

See I had a day off yesterday and what I really should have done was a card for the Daring Cardmakers Little Extra and the big one for this week. But I didn't. I (almost) finished tidying all my craft stuff, went for a pub lunch with hubby (we sat outside! in March!). Did an 8x8 Lo of my da and then later went to a crop at Imagine That.So all scrapping and no carding. How naughty is that. In my defense I don't have a lot of playing time and if I have too many deadlines then it gets stressful. I often don't have time fr the Little Extras. I did this week but played instead. Mind you it is no loss as the cards that were done by more conscientious people are super duper. Go and see NOW!!!

And then come and see what I did instead...This is all from the latest Self Addressed kit (sold out already). Gorgeous papers and extra bits. I nearly used a real chipboard BG letter but couldn't bring myself to so this is a card version for the "t". We R Memory Keepers papers and chipboard circle and eyelet things which went on a breeze with my cropodile BUT I really wanted them in just a little furhter and it just woldn't reach. Sob!Here is the journalling for you nosy ones! (like me)

And then the crop. Oh. My. Word. It was fantastic. I've never really done a class where you scraplift before and thought might react as Carys did when doing dancing lessons (why should they tell me what to do I just want to dance). But I loved it. I phoned Emma to find out what to bring and she said 3 photos. So I printed up a few lots of 3 to choose from cos i didn't ask what paper we were using. But a bit of scrappy magic happened cos the paper went so well with the photos I chose. My version is a bit messier than hers - but hope in a good way. I have to show you lots of photies cos I loves it so!

The paper is Basic Grey Gypsy mixed with some gorgeous shades of Bazzill including the rather lovely whiter than white stripy bottom layer!we had to stamp onto the Bazzill. I was, frankly, pants at it. But covered up my mistakes with some glitter glue at home and its a bit better now! The other two croppers there - Janet and Tracey managed it beautifully, grrr.I chickened out of writing directly on to the LO as well. I then ran out of white for all the writing. Oh well.And my pics were too big for the other mat so I made some of my favourite giant photo corners.And we got to do some big flowers. Which are my new best friend. Emma added in the idea of acetate flowers. I tried adding a bit of paint to mine with mixed success, All of these die cuts were cut with two big shot flower dies. If you are a Big Shot user then these really ought to be on your must have list. Next time i get to a crop i will be taking lots of spare paper to cut them out from!And some almost in focus close ups...Thanks for sharing with me!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Woot! (as my boys would say). I arrived home from a loooong meeting yesterday to discover that my CJ had arrived in the post. Oh it is fantastic to see all the hard work everyone has put into it.Do you want to see it too?Or hear about the family walk in the mud where Carys had so much fun squelching that she fell over?OK, Cj it is then... And watch out eyes cos I'm going LARGE with the piccies!

My cover and intro pages are all Cosmo Cricket Wanted. I must say it all looks so much better with lots of ribbons sticking out all over the place rather than the rather bare version i sent out. And someone added ickle bells. Just perfick!and my double layout. well it is really two layouts cos I picked two songs that tell something of my life.Here is the pull out tag for Dancing Queenand the slightly dark close up of the RHsideIf only I had known in 1988 that cream and peach would be so horrid to scrap with in 2007. Still at least we still look at each other that way. Sometimes :)

And then all the fabby pages from my CJ buddies. First up was Net...here is her tagI just love all those fresh colours!then we have Rachelwith lots of little pockets and pull outs and lists of hundreds of songs that got me singing along!Alba jane - with her wonderful stories of ElvisAnd sue W who did a super quick turnaroundand still manged to fit in a tiny little Maze book which is (cough) amazing - look!All that is left for you to look at is the sing in page - well i mean sign in but hopefully you are singing by now...and the backPhil had an MandS hamper for Christmas from his Church and the hamper fits 12x12 albums in beautifully. It's a lovely place to store all the bits that I have done - albums and little books and all. So my CJ is now in my hamper of goodies ready for me to look at every day! (And I will).Thanks again Team 1 - it has been such fun.

Friday, March 09, 2007

cos it's Friday again!Busy, busy working week. I have just spent a wonderful hour or so with a chap from my church who is housebound and in his 90's. We talked about prayer and faith a lot but also about his past. I love hearing about people's lives and it gave me a pang that so much of his life story will be lost in time. It made me more determined to scrap some family stories as well as pretty pictures of the kids. Must get my photo albums from my mum!And if you know any older people - not just family - why not go round and have a chat - you will learn so much!

I did get to do some crafting at the crafty card Club at my Harold Hill church. That is the sort of work time I enjoy! I had meant to take my camera to do some step by steps on layered flowers. But I didn't. I would like to do that sometime soon for Net though, seeing as she asked so nicely!And now she has her CJ here is a full version of the page...Mine will be with me very soon - can't wait :)

And here is this weeks Daring Cardmaker effort.Jo set the dare which had me running for cover. "I would like to challenge you to make a hero themed card. It could be a card for the Hero in your life or a Superhero themed card..."I went for a hero in my life - me mamIngredientsTall cardlots of printed out on card bits matted onto BG PhoebePhoebe background (Mum I hope you realise how much I love you by the amount of Phoebe on one card...)cape and undies cut from Flair designs Girls in the swim paperAuntie Sarah's Bloomer coloured with chalk ink3 black brads

Now I have to make another similar one for Mother in Law!

work looms for most of the weekend but I have booked a scrapbook class at Imagine That on Monday night and I'm soooo excited.Plus my latest SA kit came today so I am off to drool...